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A midwife developed massive hands and huge, clown-like feet which were constantly growing because a tumour had wrapped itself around her brain.

26-year-old Chloe Powell, from Bristol, first realised her fingers were swelling while on a trip to London with her sister.

She was in a jewellery store when she realised she couldn’t find a ring big enough to try on.

Then, just a few weeks later, having already increased her shoe size from a 6 to a 7, she said even these were too tight, adding: ‘I realised my hands and feet were getting bigger and bigger, but it didn’t make any sense at all.

‘I went to Tiffany with my sister in summer 2015 to try on on rings, but the largest size didn’t fit my fingers. We were joking about how I needed to lose weight on my hands, but we couldn’t figure out why they were suddenly so big.

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‘I was going on holiday to Majorca a few weeks later and went to buy some new shoes, having recently gone up from a size 6 to a 7, but I could only just squeeze my feet into a size 8! It was all so odd, when I was too old for my feet to be growing.

‘But my symptoms seemed too comical to discuss with a GP.’

Chloe was told by her doctor she had polycystic ovary syndrome – where harmless follicles develop in the ovaries, causing irregular periods and fertility problems – she accepted the diagnosis, as her periods had stopped.

However, she feels she should have questioned the doctor more at the time.

(Picture: PA Real Life)

Chloe said: ‘Looking back on it now, I should have questioned it more, but it made sense at the time.’

It was only a year later when Chloe started to notice just how much bigger her hands and feet were becoming, that she began to worry.

‘They were growing and getting incredibly puffy,’ she said. ‘I thought it was crazy. It’s hard to even explain that to your doctor.

‘There were things with my face as well. Everything looked very puffy. The skin on my face was very coarse and my nose was getting bigger – rather than growing longer, like Pinocchio, it was big and puffy.

‘It all happened slowly, so I didn’t really notice it until I looked back at pictures from the time.

‘I had just started a full-time job as a midwife and I was getting used to shift work, so I think everyone just put it down to me being exhausted.’

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In December 2015, Chloe left her job to travel around the world – but within a few weeks, she realised something was wrong.

‘The fatigue I was feeling didn’t go away even when I was travelling and I felt like my head was just really fuzzy,’ she explained.

‘It didn’t seem right, but I wanted to enjoy myself and tried to put it to the back of my mind.’

(Picture: Instagram @mypituitarypicture1)

Chloe came home in February 2016, when her symptoms accelerated and she started suffering with severe headaches – though she just put this down to being dehydrated.

She went to her GP who did blood tests and checked her hormone levels. Finally, they realised something wasn’t right with her bloods. Her GP said it could be an endocrine issue, meaning it concerned her hormone system.

Chloe was referred for an MRI scan, and as she waited for her appointment she researched her symptoms, realising she ticked every box for a condition involving the pituitary – a pea sized gland at the base of the brain, controlling the function of most of the endocrine glands.

She continued: ‘The wait for an MRI on the NHS was six weeks.

‘By then having scary problems with my vision, I decided to pay £350 for a private MRI a few days later and was called soon after by my GP with the results.

‘I had a 3.9cm tumour on my pituitary gland that was wrapped around my carortid artery, supplying oxygenated blood to the head and neck and my optic nerve.’

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Over the following days, as she waited for a hospital referral, Chloe’s health deteriorated, landing her in A&E at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital.

‘My body was starting to shut down,’ she said.

‘I saw an emergency endocrine team that evening and they immediately said that I had acromegaly, where the body produces too much growth hormone. The tumour meant my hormone levels were all over the place.

Chloe’s hands are now back to their normal size (Picture: PA Real Life)

‘They started me on medication to help control my hormones, but said I would need brain surgery to remove the tumour.’

On September 16, 2016 Chloe was taken down to theatre for a four hour operation, during which surgeons removed the benign growth.

‘The surgery was scary, but I was getting worse and, by the time of the operation, my feet had grown to a size 9,’ Chloe said.

‘The operation was a success, as they managed to remove the tumour, but there was permanent damage to my pituitary gland.

‘My reproductive system, thyroid and adrenal system, which produces the steroid hormone cortisol, have all stopped working properly.’

Forced to take up to nine tablets a day to replace the hormones, Chloe has now been diagnosed with Addison’s disease, a rare disorder of the adrenal glands that can become life threatening if she is stressed or shocked.

Chloe explained: ‘If I start vomiting, have flu, get stressed or have a shock – anything that makes my adrenaline go up – I need to react to it, take more steroids and get to hospital. It’s happened to me a few times over the last two years and it is very scary.

‘Being a midwife means there are some cases that are really stressful, but I have to keep my stress level to a minimum. It’s also hard because it’s left me infertile which, because of my job, can be upsetting.

‘I can have IVF, though, so at least I know that, in the future when I want to have kids, there will be options.’

Chloe has been helped by the Pituitary Foundation, which runs a helpline and has provided Chloe with cards explainng what to do when she has an adrenal crisis.

She said: ‘Because my condition’s so rare, medical professionals don’t always know exactly what to do and it means they can just read the card and treat me quickly.

‘The Pituitary Foundation staff have been an amazing help. Through them and my Instagram page @mypituitarypicture1, I have met more people with these conditions and it’s helped me feel less isolated.

‘Now, almost two years after my surgery, I am getting back on track. I’m planning to start a Master’s degree in September to become a physician’s associate, which means I can work more closely with doctors to diagnose patients.

‘Now back to my normal shoe and hand size, I’m also giving back to the charity, by climbing Mount Snowdon this weekend to fundraise.’